Cannabis Edibles and Drink Review had the pleasure of chatting via Zoom with CEO and Co-Founder Judy Yee who shares her journey into creating cannabis beverages and her company, K-Zen.
CEDR: So just to get started, can you give a little sense of how you got into cannabis beverages?
Judy: I’m an Asian American who grew up in a rather conservative household. I was born in Taiwan and we moved to the states when I was young. My dad is ex-military and so I grew up with a falsely negative perception (of cannabis). And this was pretty much all of my life until a few years ago. So, for me to come full circle was kind of a big deal. I used to be a professional dancer. I actually danced for the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics. I’m also a recreational runner.
I’ve had a very active lifestyle for most of my life. I took a little time off as I have a young daughter. Then, I tried to return to what I used to do. And I just found the methods I used to do to recover and create resiliency didn’t work as well. At the time I had these really trusted friends who said, “I know this is maybe a little controversial, but have you thought about cannabis?”
I immediately said, “Oh my God, no. I don’t, I can’t smoke.” And they’re like, “No, no, no. There are other ways to consume it.” So, I tried some gummies and chocolates and really felt the effects and thought to myself, “Oh, this is actually working.”
I eventually vaped, but it took a while. I thought, “Gosh, if someone like me – who had had a long-standing misperception of cannabis – and who now would be consuming it more for health and wellness reasons, I can’t be the only one.” There have got to be millions of other people like me who haven’t tried cannabis or have been curious about trying it, but just needed a little guidance, a more discrete format, and something that’s healthier and quite frankly, more enjoyable and tasteful.
So that really was how I got into cannabis. And having come from 20+ years with a food and beverage background I thought it was a perfect storm to take my new personal journey and combine that with my expertise. I wanted to really create a new format for people to finally consider cannabis, who otherwise wouldn’t have for various reasons.
CEDR: Please share some insights on your two drinks and what makes them so spectacular?
Judy: I think one of the things that separates us from other beverages is that we are approaching it as a portfolio. If you look at the landscape of cannabis consumers, you look at usage needs and varying levels of experience with cannabis. If you look at the marketplace today it is still mostly a heavy user base. These are folks that have either grown up with it or are daily users for medical reasons, like pain management, anxiety relief, or just, you know what, that feeling of I function better when I’m high.
We partnered with Vertosa to really make sure that the science is there, that the fast, predictable, consistent effect is exactly what is going to happen every single time you drink the product.
But it isn’t just about the technology. It has to taste good. We worked quite a bit on making the formulas really tasteful, though not because we’re adding sugar. I think we’ve definitely gotten a lot of ‘high fives’ on taste, and that’s why the repeat rate has been so strong. People are coming back over and over to buy our products.
CEDR: Can you please tell us more about your current products, S*SHOTS and Mad Lilly?
Judy: What’s great about (100mg.) S*SHOTS is that it’s dosed appropriately so every pour can be exact. You can drink it on its own or you can actually blend it into other drinks, like sparkling water or other mocktail recipes.
Mad Lilly Tonic is the first of its kind — it’s the first cannabis drink made with CBN, a cannabinoid that promotes relaxation for your sleep routine. We infuse lemon balm and lavender extracts with real fruit juices with cannabinoids, like CBN and THC, to inspire calmness and serenity.
Mad Lilly Spritzers have a nice, balanced ratio of five mg. of THC and five mg. of CBD. You’ve got THC for the psychoactive head high, but the CBD creates a really nice balance.
Mad Lilly Spritzers speak to someone like myself, the Canna-Curious or Chardonnay moms that are looking to just have a really light, refreshing, elevated experience without a hangover the next morning. Otherwise, we’d be reaching for a sparkling wine or just any kind of cocktail.
All of the ingredients in Mad Lilly are natural. We have juices that are coming from the best regions of the world. For example, with our Passion Fruit Mango, the passion fruit juice actually comes from Ecuador. We really pride ourselves on having the best quality juice without added sugar or sweeteners. There are no preservatives, nothing artificial. It’s a very clean drink with less than five ingredients.
CEDR: Where can people find your products?
Judy: We started out with a partnership with Eaze (in California). It’s just a great opportunity to get visibility with their millions of users. Their data is super powerful. You can see the type of person, the zip code they live in, etc. Those insights help us formulate a game plan accordingly: “If I had one month to go penetrate a market, where should I go?” We also have a really good sense of who the target user is from a demographic standpoint.
We also just started selling in dispensaries about six months ago. At the moment we’re in the Sacramento region. We’ve got this nice density area where it’s better for our economics and also for any localized marketing. And we’re starting to expand a lot faster into other parts of the state.
CEDR: Can you shed any light on Indica versus Sativa in terms of the THC that’s in your drinks?
Judy: A lot of the cannabis emulsion that is available is more of a hybrid. What we’ve been focusing on is the purist cannabinoid blends so that you can have the most predictable experience. Apparently, there’s so much crossbreeding right now with plant life that neither your Indica or Sativa are pure. I think it’s especially true from harvest to harvest. But I think there’s a lot of advancement in that area as well.
Right now, especially with cannabis beverages, I believe most of the focus is still around the ratios of THC to CBD. We are paying close attention to new users who are just trying to figure out THC and CBD and who can’t wrap their heads around the different strains. But I do think that is going to be a feature, especially with terpenes. It’s going to be a very key part of the formulation for beverages going forward.
CEDR: What’s next?
Judy: We’re going to have at least one other brand out next year. And then we’re going to build out the product lines within the brands that we have today so that we can fully optimize consumer adoption. For example, most drinks are sold individually. There’s an opportunity to make multi-packs as a convenient way for people to have more on hand so you can drink it more frequently or share it with their friends and family. These are the kind of block and tackle tactics that help accelerate growth and acquire new consumers.
